Shark fin soup anyone?

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is holding its triennial conference in Bangkok from 3 to 14 March. The main business is to decide how to improve the world's wildlife trade regime that has been in place for 40 years.

Sharks will be high on the list of endangered species to be discussed with proposals to regulate the trade in five of the most threatened species of shark.

The latest and most accurate assessment to date of the impact of commercial fishing on sharks suggests that around 100 million are being killed each year. This rate of exploitation is unsustainable. Furthermore the harvest involves great cruelty with fins being removed from live sharks which are then thrown back into the sea. The major factor driving the trade is the high demand for shark fins for soup in Chinese communities.

No harm was done to any shark in producing the soup in my blip. However, a Knorr Stock cube did suffer grievously.